The men were caught in a cave-in at the Crandall Canyon mine before dawn Monday. Rescue crews know exactly where six trapped miners are located, but were forced to turn around late Monday because of "impassable conditions," the mine's operator said.

The authorities say the miners are thought to have been working about four miles from the mine's entrance at the time of the incident. They emphasized they are confident of the miners' location.

There is no word on their condition. "They can be in a chamber in that is 1,000 feet long, or they could be dead." It could take 48 hours to reach the miners, but if they are still alive "there's water and air and their lunch boxes of food for far beyond that."

HUNTINGTON, Utah (AP) — Hundreds of rescuers struggled with falling rock and debris Monday in a desperate race to reach six coal miners trapped 1,500 feet below ground by a cave-in so powerful authorities initially thought it was an earthquake.

As the rescue stretched into the night, workers were unable to make significant progress and the initial effort was declared a failure.

"I'm very disappointed. That's one step backward," Robert E. Murray, chairman of Murray Energy Corp. of Cleveland, a part owner of the Crandall Canyon mine, told reporters at an evening briefing.

More than 16 hours after the collapse, which did not appear related to an explosion, searchers had been unable to contact the miners and could not say whether they were dead or alive. If they survived, Murray said, they could have enough air and water to last several days.

"We're going to get them," he said. "There is nothing on my mind right now except getting those miners out."

The mining crew was believed to be about four miles from the mine entrance. Rescuers were working to free the men by drilling into the mine vertically from the mountaintop and horizontally from the side, Murray said. Officials estimated that drilling vertically could take three days.

If they are able to open an old mine shaft, Murray said, rescuers believe they can get within 100 feet of where the men are trapped.

"The idea is to get a hole into where they are," Murray said. "They could be in a chamber 1,000 feet long or they could be dead. We just don't know right now."

Doug Johnson, director of corporate services at an affiliated company, UtahAmerican Energy, said rescuers had made "decent progress," but they were not much closer to the men.

Relatives of the miners waited for news at a nearby senior center. Many of the family members don't speak English, so Huntington Mayor Hilary Gordon hugged them, put her hands over her heart and then clasped them together to let them know she was praying for them, she said.

"Past experience tells us these things don't go very well," said Gordon, whose husband is a former miner.

Outside the senior center, Ariana Sanchez, 16, said her father Manuel Sanchez, 42, was among the trapped miners. She said she cried when her mother told her the news, and declined further comment.

The mine uses a method called "retreat mining," in which pillars of coal are used to hold up an area of the mine's roof. When that area is completely mined, the company pulls the pillar and grabs the useful coal, causing an intentional collapse. Experts say it is one of the most dangerous mining methods.

Federal mine-safety inspectors, who have issued more than 300 citations against the mine since January 2004, were also on hand to help oversee the search.

Murray said no expense would be spared to save the men. The company had enlisted the help of 200 employees and four rescue crews, and brought in all available equipment from around the state.

The mine is built into a mountain in the rugged Manti-La Sal National Forest, 140 miles south of Salt Lake City, in a sparsely populated area.

By mid-afternoon, rescuers were within 1,700 feet of the miners' presumed location, Murray said. It was not known what kind of breathing equipment the miners had.

University of Utah seismograph stations recorded seismic waves of 3.9 magnitude around early Monday in the area of the mine, causing speculation that a minor earthquake had caused the cave-in. Scientists later realized the collapse at the mine had caused the disturbance, reported to authorities around 4 a.m. But by late afternoon, they said a natural earthquake could not be ruled out and more information was needed to conclusively determine what happened.

Murray said the earthquake's epicenter was a mile from the trapped miners.

"The whole problem has been caused by an earthquake," Murray angrily insisted.

Since the mid-1990s, at least a half-dozen other mine collapses have caused similar seismic waves, including a 1995 cave-in in southwestern Wyoming that caused readings as high as a magnitude 5.4.

Murray believed the miners have plenty of air because oxygen naturally leaks into the mine. The mine also is stocked with drinking water.

"I'm so hopeful for those guys. They should have lots of oxygen to breathe," said Mary Ann Wright, associate director for mining in the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining.

"From not having heard that there's any type of fire, that's always good news. If they're trapped in a cavern area, there should be oxygen to breathe," Wright said.

Government mine inspectors have issued 325 citations against the mine since January 2004, according to a quick analysis of federal Mine Safety and Health Administration online records. Of those, 116 were what the government considered "significant and substantial," meaning they are likely to cause injury.

The 325 safety violations is not unusual, said J. Davitt McAteer, former head of the MHSA and now vice president of Wheeling Jesuit University in West Virginia.

"It's not perfect but it's certainly not bad," McAteer said. "It would be in the medium range."

In 2007, inspectors have issued 32 citations against the mine, 14 of them considered significant.

Last month, inspectors cited the mine for violating a rule requiring that at least two separate passageways be designated for escape in an emergency.

It was the third time in less than two years that the mine had been cited for the same problem, according to MSHA records. In 2005, MSHA ordered the mine owners to pay $963 for not having escapeways and the 2006 fine for the same problem was just $60.

Overall, the federal government has ordered the mine owner to pay nearly $152,000 in penalties for its 325 violations with many citations having no fines calculated yet. Since January, the mine owner has paid $130,678 in fines, according to MSHA records.

Asked about safety, Murray told reporters: "I believe we run a very safe coal mine. We've had an excellent record."

Gov. Jon Huntsman broke away from a wildfire forum in Boise, Idaho, to return to Utah.

"We're going to expend every resource we have and make every effort to make sure lives are put first and foremost," he said as he departed Boise.

The head of MSHA, Richard Stickler, said he would be at the site Tuesday.

Utah ranked 12th in coal production in 2006. It had 13 underground coal mines in 2005, the most recent statistics available, according to the Utah Geological Survey.

Emery County, the state's No. 2 coal-producer, also was the site of a fire that killed 27 people in the Wilburg mine in December 1984.

Many are starting to wonder if the six trapped miners could survive this long underground. We did some research and found at least 11 instances of miners being trapped eight days or longer.

In May of last year, two Australian miners trapped a half-mile underground were rescued after 14 days. Rescue teams were able to deliver food and water to the men before getting them out.

The year before, a gypsum miner was rescued in China after 11 days. Around the world, similar stories prevail.

In 1972, two men in Idaho were found in good condition after eight days trapped in a silver mine. Three miners also survived eight days in a flooded China mine. And in 2002, China coal miners survived underground on tree bark and muddy water for eight days.

In 1958 a bump shook a coal mine in Nova Scotia. The last group of survivors was pulled out after nine days. In West Virginia, six workers were freed 10 days after water flooded a coal mine in the 60s.

In South Korea in 1982, it took 14 days to rescue coal miners trapped 800 feet underground. Years earlier, a miner in that country survived 15 days underground. That's the same time it took rescuers to find two miners trapped in a collapsed mine in China in 2005.

But the longest successful mine rescue came in 1983. After 23 long days, two trapped Chinese miners were freed.

Most of the time in these cases, rescuers had made some kind of initial contact with the workers, but not always. In one instance, rescuers had found nothing until the 15th day, when they were rummaging through rubble, heard a faint voice and found two men.

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Originally, Mr. Murray said they were confident they knew the miners location. Apparently, as time has passed, they don't know exactly where the miners are located. So far, they can't establish contact via video or microphone. I am praying.

I also heard there was some "noise." I saw on FOX today that they are making trips into the mine with coal carts and bringing out rubble in order to eventually get into the mine through the front entrance. I guess they have to keep going until they find the miners, in whatever state they are in.

Images from a videocamera lowered Wednesday into the mine where six men were trapped 10 days ago showed an undamaged shaft and a curtain that could mean the men, if they survived the initial blast, found breathable air, the mine's co-owner said.

Rescue officials were reviewing the images, which were the first from a camera lowered into the third borehole drilled into the mountain. The camera picked up no sign of the miners, but showed a hemp ventilation curtain that divides intake air in the mine from the exhaust air.

If the miners passed through the ventilation curtain, they would be in a pocket of good air, mine co-owner Bob Murray told The Associated Press late Wednesday.

"There was no damage at all. The roof is intact; no ribs have outburst. The floors are in place — it looked just as it did when we mined it," he said. "If the men went in there, they could be alive."

Earlier Wednesday, some noise was detected by devices monitoring vibrations in the mountain, raising "a very small amount" of hope that the men might be found alive, officials said.

The sounds detected by two geophones could be a rock breaking underground or even an animal, said Richard Stickler, chief of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration.

"We saw some indication of noise for a period of about five minutes that we had not seen before," Stickler said.

While the source of the noise wasn't known, Stickler said it had "created a very small amount of hope and optimism" among the families.

There are a total of six geophones on the mountain, all of which picked up measured noise Wednesday morning, some stronger than others, Murry said. The vibrations occurred every 1.5 seconds, in a steady pattern for five minutes, he said.

"We have no idea what that sound is, but we are going to know when we get the fourth hole down there," Murray said.

Plans for the location of a fourth borehole, to begin Thursday, had changed because of the "unusual" noise readings, both men said.

Murray, who is chief of Murray Energy Corp., the co-owner and operator of the Crandall Canyon Mine, also cautioned: "Don't read too much into this noise we picked up, but it is a sign of hope."

Still, experts say the chances of finding the men alive are slim.

As crews slowly dig a path to the men's presumed location at the Crandall Canyon Mine, the narrow drill holes sunk deep into the mountain amount to little more than educated guesses.

"There are a lot of possibilities," Stickler said. "We started with logical thinking: 'If I were in this situation, what would I do?' That has guided us in where we look."

The men could be huddled together or spread out anywhere in an underground area the size of several football fields.

"There's always a chance. You have to hang on to that chance. But realistically it is small, quite small," said J. Davitt McAteer, former head of the MSHA and now vice president of Wheeling Jesuit University in West Virginia. "You would have to have every single break and divine intervention to successfully extract these guys."

The Aug. 6 cave-in released low-oxygen air from sealed chambers into the working area of the mine. Downward pressure on the walls sent chunks of coal flying like bullets through the shaft.

Two holes drilled into the mine have not located the men. The third drill broke through Wednesday into an area where officials say the men may have sought refuge.

"We're going to keep drilling until we find these miners," Murray said Wednesday. Still, he cautioned that the initial blast inside the mountain may have killed the men instantly.

Mining rescues after 10 or more days are not unheard of. In May 2006, two miners were rescued after being trapped for 14 days following a collapse at an Australian mine. In 1968, six miners were rescued after 10 days in West Virginia.

The effort to dig out a rubble-filled tunnel was proceeding slowly Wednesday and could last another week to go more than 1,200 feet before reaching the area where the miners were believed to be working.

The miners "know damn well we're doing what we can to get to them, and we're going to get there — no doubt about it," Bodee Allred, the mine's safety manager, said Wednesday in his coal-blackened overalls.

Allred, who has a cousin trapped inside the mine, said the force of the collapse was "definitely something I've never seen before."

The thunderous collapse blew out the walls of mine shafts, filling them with rubble. If the men were not crushed by rock, their bodies could have been crushed by the immense air pressure generated by the collapse, mining executives and federal regulators have said.

And if they survived that, they could have died from lack of oxygen, even though fresh air is now being pumped down one of the drill holes.

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My great grandfather was a coal miner as was my grandfather and several of his many sons.My grandfather died in a mining accident as did his oldest son, so these mining disasters always get my attention.The town I grew up in originated as a mining town although the mines are no longer in operation.This tragedy has me really anxious and although I don't have alot of hope that they will be found alive I am praying for a miracle.

Ambulances Called to Crandall Canyon MineAugust 16th, 2007 @ 7:52pm(KSL News) There's been a flurry of activity at the Crandall Canyon mine tonight. Early reports from NBC Network News suggest that four rescue miners have been injured.

The situation seems to have started at about 7:20 this evening. The Emery County sheriff was seen driving quickly up the road, followed by ambulance. Another ambulance followed and a helicopter also appeared to have landed at the site.

Just minutes later an ambulance came back down. One ambulance left the scene with a person inside performing chest compressions on someone.

Emery County Sheriff Lamar Guymon declined to comment. We'll keep you updated as details become available.

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AP/KSL) -- A disastrous cave-in Thursday night killed a rescue worker and injured at least eight others who were trying to tunnel through rubble to reach six trapped miners, authorities said.

"All rescue workers have been evacuated from the mine. Nine rescue workers were injured in the accident. One of those suffered fatal injuries," said Dirk Fillpot, a spokesman for the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration.

(snipped)

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HUNTINGTON, Utah (Aug. 17) - The search for six miners missing deep underground was abruptly halted after a second cave-in killed three rescue workers and injured at least six others who were trying to tunnel through rubble to reach them. It was a devastating turn for the families of the six men trapped in the Aug. 6 collapse at the Crandall Canyon mine and for the relatives of those trying to rescue them. It's not known if the six are alive.

All rescue workers were evacuated from the mine Thursday evening and work underground was stopped. Asked if the search would be suspended, "that's something to be determined," said Rich Kulczewski, a U.S. Department of Labor spokesman.

The cave-in at 6:39 p.m. was caused by a mountain bump in which pressure can force chunks of coal from walls of the mine with great force. Seismologists say such a bump caused the Aug. 6 cave-in that trapped the six men more than 3 miles inside the central Utah mine. That led to the frenetic effort by rescuers to dig through the mine toward the men and drill narrow holes atop the mountain in an attempt to learn their whereabouts and perhaps drop down food and water.

It was not immediately clear where the rescuers were working or what they were doing when Thursday's bump occurred.

Underground, rescuers had advanced only 826 feet in nine days. Before Thursday's cave-in, workers still had about 1,200 feet to go to reach the area where they believe the trapped men had been working.

Mining officials said conditions in the mine were treacherous, and they were frequently forced to halt digging because of seismic activity.

A day after the initial collapse, the rescuers were pushed back 300 feet when a bump shook the mountain and filled the tunnel with rubble.

The digging had been set back Wednesday night, when a coal excavating machine was half buried by rubble by seismic shaking. Another mountain bump interrupted work briefly Thursday morning.

"The seismic activity underground has just been relentless. The mountain is still alive, the mountain is still moving and we cannot endanger the rescue workers as we drive toward these trapped miners," said Bob Murray, chief of Murray Energy Corp., the co-owner and operator of the Crandall Canyon mine.

On top of the mountain, rescuers were drilling a fourth hole on Thursday, aiming for a spot where devices called "geophones" had detected mysterious vibrations in the mountain. Kulczewski said he believed that work continued after the accident.

No details were available early Friday about the official cause of the rescuers' deaths. Their identities were not released. Injuries to the survivors ranged from cuts and scrapes to head and chest trauma.

Six of the injured were taken to Castleview Hospital in Price. One rescuer died there, one was airlifted to a Salt Lake City hospital, one was released and three were being treated, said Jeff Manley, the hospital's chief executive.

The second dead worker passed away at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo, hospital spokeswoman Janet Frank said. Another worker there was in serious condition with head trauma but was alert, she said.

The third death was confirmed by Kulczewski, the Labor Department spokesman.

Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman flew to the hospital in Price early Friday and planned to meet with mine safety officials later in the day to discuss the future of the rescue operation.

Huntsman said he did not want underground tunneling to resume, but that the decision rested with the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration.

"We're pushing for that to cease right now unless MSHA and others can guarantee that it can continue safely," he said. "Whatever happens, we're going to want to ensure that it is done safely and that may take a little while.

"We as a state don't want any more injuries," he added. "We've had enough."

Before the latest cave-in, officials said the third of three holes drilled reached an intact chamber with potentially breathable air.

Video images were obscured by water running down that bore hole, but officials said they could see beyond it to an undamaged chamber in the rear of the mine. It yielded no sign the miners had been there.

Murray said it would take at least two days for the latest drill to reach its target, in an area where a seismic listening device detected a "noise" or vibration in 1.5-second increments and lasting for five minutes. The drilling began Thursday.

Officials say it's impossible to know what caused the vibrations and clarified the limits of the technology.

The geophone can pinpoint the direction of the source of the disturbance, but it can't tell whether it came from within the mine, the layers of rock above the mine or from the mountain's surface, said MSHA chief Richard Stickler.

The "noise," a term he used a day before, wasn't anything officials could hear, Stickler said. "Really, it's not sounds but vibrations."

Officials stressed that the motion picked up by the geophones could be unrelated to the mine, even as they drilled the new hole in an effort to uncover the source of it.

Last night as I was falling asleep I heard Greta mention something about calling off the search now? Meaning as in for good? I was out of it and didn't completely understand. I cannot imagine what the families must be going through.

This article includes a graph showing the first hole drilled that missed the area the miners are presumed to be in, along with other attempts. The hole being drilled now at an angle seems to be showing some promise. I hope the miners can be reached, and if alive given food, water and air & to at least get some more time to help them.

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